Spelga Dam

Spelga is the high, brooding reservoir that most people glimpse from the B27 as they cross the western Mournes, and from the air it is spectacular: a sheet of dark water ringed by Slieve Muck, Butter Mountain and Cove Mountain, with the dam wall dropping into the Deer's Meadow valley below. This is high ground, roughly 360m, so you get genuine mountain scenery without a walk. The important caveat is ownership. The reservoir, dam and surrounding infrastructure are NI Water land, and there is no public right to fly from it. In practice pilots launch from the public roadside laybys on the B27 rather than from NI Water structures, and that is the honest distinction to respect: verge yes, dam crest and works no. Much of the surrounding upland is also within National Trust or grazing tenancy, so do not stray onto NT foothills to the east. Weather is the other hazard, wind rips across the open water and cloud can drop onto the tops within minutes, so pick a settled, still window. No FRZ is remotely close, the nearest sizeable airfield being Belfast International around 40km north. Watch for sheep, walkers and the occasional angler, and keep a generous margin from the road.